The Inn Bed Was Surprisingly Decent
The inn bed was surprisingly decent. Of course, "decent" was relative. For a body that had slumbered on granite floors for centuries, any cushion felt like an upgrade. The real problem was the bed frame. The moment I lay down, the wooden slats beneath the mattress let out a scream, and every time I shifted, the joints creaked loud enough to echo through the whole room.
I spread my limbs out wide, lying flat like a starfish. Distributing my weight as evenly as possible finally let the bed hold up—just barely. The grain of the wooden ceiling was faintly visible in the darkness. A dragon's night vision was sharp even in human form.
Debt repayment methods. I sorted them out by category. The crumpled sackcloth, a bowl of coarse grain bread and soup, two days' worth of moonlight herbs to cover the table damage, and one night's stay at the inn. It wasn't a huge sum, but my entire fortune amounted to that one ragged scrap of sackcloth. The original story never mentioned any legal ways for a dragon to earn gold coins.
I'll think about it tomorrow. Even back in my office worker days, it was always like this after overtime. Clutching the superstition that sleep solved the problems my brain refused to tackle, I closed my eyes.
I closed them, then opened them again. Wind was seeping through the window cracks. Thin threads of night air slipped through the gaps in the old wooden frame. Mixed in was a smell—sour and acrid, a chemical stench that burned the nasal passages.
Magic beast lure agent. Same components as the one I'd smelled earlier that day. Just far more concentrated. Gauging the direction it rode in on the breeze, it came from beyond the eastern woods outside the village.
I stared at the ceiling with eyes wide open. Those three men from earlier. Magic beast poachers. The ones who'd pressured Toti for a guide and backed off. —We'll be back. Sprinkling lure agent at night meant they'd started their hunt, timed to the beasts' nocturnal patterns. With Toti refusing to guide them, they were pushing ahead without one.
Not my problem. I pulled the blanket up over my head. But the smell didn't fade. A human nose could just shut the window and be done, but a dragon's sense of smell was different. Every single molecule reported the lure's exact composition and spread radius straight to my brain nonstop. The irritant's diffusion radius kept expanding. At that concentration, it could drag not just the magic beasts from the Green Rot Forest foothills but mid-level ones from halfway up the Black Thunder Mountains.
Which means the beast migration will intensify even more. If the migration worsened, the empire would launch a full investigation. And the investigation's end point? The peak of the Black Thunder Mountains. My cave.
I kicked off the blanket. My excuse for intervening is survival. I'm not going to help some stranger. As I sat up, the bed frame sighed in relief. I pulled the sackcloth over my head and pressed my nose to the window crack. Wind direction, lure concentration gradient. My sense of smell alone pinpointed the rough origin. Past the village's eastern woods into the Green Rot Forest entrance, then northeast about twenty minutes. Overlaying it with the terrain details Toti had rattled off earlier that day, the entrance to a valley around three hundred meters elevation looked likely. Who knew the herbalist's precise geographic knowledge would prove useful so soon.
The inn hallway was silent. I minimized the pressure on my soles to the extreme, creeping across the creaky floorboards. Creak—no sound, next step. Creak—about to sound, shift weight to another board. A calamity-class dragon's nighttime infiltration. Against an inn floor. The scale was pathetically small.
Opening the back door, cool night air slapped my face. Night breeze of the Green Wind Month. The village lay utterly still, not even a dog's bark. Probably because the faint aura leaking from me as I passed had silenced the village beasts.
The beast-repelling herb barrier Toti mentioned lined the village perimeter. Low-grade magic beast deterrent herbal scent, but it did nothing to me. The moment I crossed it, the lure agent's stench stabbed my nose more sharply.
I slipped into the edge of the woods. No risk of bumping shoulders, but the dry branches and fallen leaves on the ground were trouble. Perfect weight control. I walked applying just enough pressure not to snap a single leaf.
The dark woods were silent. No nocturnal insect chirps, no bat wing flutters. Either the lure had driven off the small critters, or my presence had cowed every living thing in the radius. Probably both.
Then another scent mixed in from behind. Grass smell. Dried herbs, damp earth, faint lingering moonlight herb aroma. Exactly what I'd smelled earlier that day. I slowed my steps.
"......Come out."
I muttered it low toward the rear, suppressing my voice. A presence halted behind the bushes for a moment, then a familiar voice rang out.
"Aw, busted."
Toti Brin emerged from between the shrubs. Short brown cloak for nighttime foraging, herb pouch faithfully slung at her waist.
"How'd you know? I was super quiet following you."
"Smell."
"Smell? I smell?"
"Herb smell. Always."
Toti lifted her collar to her nose and sniffed. "Dunno. Anyway, what's do-ryeon-nim doing wandering around at night?"
"......Walk."
"Liar. Who goes for a walk toward the Green Rot Forest?"
"You?"
"Me? I smelled the lure and came out. If they sprinkle that stuff near the village, beasts could push toward the barrier. Can't sleep without checking."
For an herbalist's instinct, that was too bold. Charging alone into a beast-infested night forest went beyond curiosity into recklessness.
"Dangerous. Go back."
"Do-ryeon-nim saying that?"
"What?"
"You're alone too. Just sackcloth on. No weapon."
No retort. She was spot-on, appearance-wise.
"Let's go together. Neither of us is turning back anyway."
Even in the dark, Toti's eyes sparkled. The same mix of curiosity and stubbornness from earlier that day.
Why isn't this woman scared around me at all? What principle made her immune to dragon fear? Toti Brin didn't even appear in the original story.
"......No noise. Absolutely."
"Got it."
She said that, already glued to my side. I swallowed a shallow sigh. Exhaling it for real might snap whole branches around us.
The lure agent's stench grew thicker. Where the woods ended and the Green Rot Forest's slope began. A faint stream sound came from the right. The incline Toti said reached halfway up the Black Thunder Mountains in half a day.
Campfire smoke mingled with the lure stench, wafting up. I gestured for Toti to halt and scanned the surroundings. To the left stood a massive tree thick enough for four or five adults to encircle. Perfect vantage for looking down.
"Wait here."
"Nah."
"Wait."
This time, I laced my voice with a hint of weight. My golden eyes fixed on Toti from under the sackcloth. She couldn't see them in the dark, but the low timbre alone differed from usual. Toti shut her mouth. A first.
"......Fine. But if it takes too long, I'm coming too."
I answered by placing a hand on the tree trunk. Minimizing finger pressure, I climbed silently. Prone on the thickest branch, I pressed knees and belly close. Peering through the leaves below.
Campfire. At the broad rocky ledge by the valley entrance, a campsite. Those three from earlier. Gear spread around the fire, stringing iron nets between trees for traps. Dark liquid splashed on the rocks. Lure agent stock solution. The culprit spreading endlessly on the wind.
"Three stone-armored lizards sighted nearby. Twenty gold each at the arena."
The leader with the jaw scar. Worn leather map spread on his knees.
"But lizards alone won't cover expedition costs."
The man oiling an iron hook beside him shot back.
"Expedition costs. Lure stock alone is fifteen gold."
The leader tapped a spot on the map.
"That's why we got a real target."
Through the leaves, I read that map point precisely. Black Thunder Mountains summit.
"Beasts are all coming down the mountain. Means the peak's empty. Heard rumors of ancient species traces in summit caves? Even one bone gets us a thousand gold from the magic tower."
Bone. My cave. After centuries asleep, maybe shed scale fragments littered the floor. If that reached the magic tower?
Calamity black dragon scale analysis. Habitat pinpointing. Surviving specimen confirmation survey. Worst-case scenario flashed through my mind. Unconsciously, my fingers dug into the tree bark. Deep prints sank into the solid wood. I startled, released the strength, and steadied my breath. Suppress emotions. No fear leak.
The leader kept blabbing.
"Herbalist girl knew the mountain paths inside out, but she won't guide? Fucking annoying. Gotta visit again tomorrow morning."
"If she refuses again?"
"Make her unable to refuse."
The leader ran his thumb along the hook's tip, grinning unpleasantly. Both issues intolerable. Raiding my cave, forcing Toti along. But charging down now to thrash them? A mysterious sackcloth man rampaging at night cracks my cover.
But leave them, and my cave gets looted. Either choice high risk. Needed best scenario: stop them ascending, hide identity.
Paang. Sharp rupture from campsite south. Iron net's mana alarm line severed. Three men sprang up. Leader drew short curved sword, others grabbed hook and spear.
Rupture direction. South. Where I'd left Toti.
Damn. "If too long, I'll come"—she actually did. Wandered dark woods, tripped the alarm.
Three men crashed through bushes south. I moved instantly. Branch to branch, silent and swift as monkey swifter than cat.
Scene soon in view. Amid dense shrubs on south valley slope, leader roughly yanked Toti's arm, dragging her out.
"Well, if it isn't—"
Leader's voice held glee. The herbalist guide walked right in.
"Let go, let go, you jerk!"
Toti flailed to shake free, but size difference overwhelming.
"Out alone at night? Following us, huh?"
"Why would I follow you? Lure smell reached village, so I came to check—"
"Good timing anyway."
Leader twisted her arm up. Other two flanked, dragging her back to camp.
I silently branch-hopped back to the big tree over camp, repositioned.
Propped on campfire rock ledge, firelight revealed her face pale enough to highlight freckles starkly.
"Was gonna visit tomorrow, but you came yourself—saved time. Guide duty, like it or not. Think you can refuse now?"
Other two flanked with spear and hook. Exact same formation as lunch at the inn. But now, isolated night woods.
Toti's eyes wavered, mouth didn't.
"Crazy? Treating people like—"
"Quiet. Yell and beasts come."
Real warning. Uproar in lure-vibrating woods draws beast horde. Toti knew, bit lip hard.
Crackling campfire cast long flickering shadows. From tree branch, I watched. Pale Toti. Rough hand gripping her arm.
Again. Face or voice recognized links to daytime "sackcloth man." One choice. Silent, face hidden, instant end.
Pulled sackcloth deep. Shadow cloaked from brow to nose. In dark, only vertical slit golden eyes faintly gleamed.
Sealed mana ocean in heart layers. Calamity black dragon aura. Cracked tiniest gap, leaked bare pre-faint terror. Enough.
No sound, no light. Just air density shifted. Atmosphere weighed down, crushed campfire. Raging flames flattened like under invisible giant palm, smothered to floor. Red fire turned crimson coals, plunged surroundings into dark.
Three men's motions froze. No clue why. No wind, yet fire out. Chest-crushing pressure made breathing hard.
Leader's hand unconsciously released Toti's arm. Sword hand trembled, aimed at empty air. Others hastily raised weapons.
"Wh-what. Magic beast?"
No answer. Came from above. I leaped from tree branch. Human-leg-shattering height, but dragon body mere stair step.
Kwaaang! Heavy landing cracked rock ledge spiderweb-style to shards. Coal embers and stone dust sprayed.
Three backed off in unison. They saw only tall silhouette in dark, two gleaming golden points under shadow. Human eyes couldn't resolve my slit pupils, but instinct screamed warning. Even trace aura overwhelming terror for mortals.
Leader's curved sword shook toward me. Mouth shut, I stepped forward once. Enough. Leader retreated half-step. Exact same as lunch retreat. His unit: half-step, huh.
Other two arms limp on weapons. Fight idea erased.
One more step. Leader gritted teeth. Sword wrist quivered wildly. Planned silent end, but he held, so one word.
"......Scram."
Low, sunken voice, throttled near-breath mumble.
"......Withdraw."
Leader squeezed order. No time for face. Three grabbed gear haphazardly, bolted north slope. Hook clank faded fast into dark.
Before retracting aura, piled thick dirt and leaves over rock ledge's lure stock, sealed stench. Then resealed the tiny gap tight.
Smothered campfire embers flickered back to orange. Air lightened, forest sounds returned.
"......Bar?"
Toti's voice. Not trembling, but lacked usual cheer—cautious tone.
I lifted sackcloth slightly, showed face outline, turned. Eyes still shadowed.
"You okay?"
"......Fine, I guess."
Toti rubbed freed forearm, looked up at me. Firelight brought back freckles. Better color than before.
"What was that? Fire suddenly out, air weird."
"Wind."
"Wind?"
"Night breeze must've gusted strong."
"Valley wind blows up, presses fire down?"
Sharp. Underestimated herbalist observation.
"......Unusual air current."
Toti stared long. Wanted to pry more, but turned to poachers' escape direction.
"Those guys coming back soon?"
"Not tonight."
Certain. Beasts broken by unknown dread don't reenter territory. Humans same.
"Let's go back. To village."
Toti paused, then nodded.
Return quiet. Uncharacteristic silence from Toti. Familiar herb scent swirled around me on night air. Steady footsteps half-step behind. Less fear, more thoughtful quiet.
Village barrier in sight, Toti spoke.
"Bar."
"Yeah."
"Do-ryeon-nim, really a noble robbed by bandits?"
"What else."
"Dunno. But nobles don't move like that."
No answer. Thick dirt over stock diluted lure smell on wind by barrier cross. Toti asked no more.
But parting at inn front, her whirled-back parting shot rang in my ears.
"Anyway, second time you saved me. Still collecting full debt later though."
Usual cheery tone. Watched her wave into dark, opened inn door.
Bed frame screamed anew. Starfished out, stared ceiling.
Cave issue needs handling. Poachers chased won't fully abandon. Ancient traces, thousand gold. Not temptation to drop after one night terror.
Return soon, erase all traces. Shed scales, claw marks, breath-melted walls. Centuries' worth.
But returning means sneaking out village again, stiffing Toti on inn fee. Debt list swirled. Sackcloth, meals, moonlight herbs for table, inn stay. Saved her twice, debt intact. Calamity black dragon's priority: debt payoff. Original Barkaion would bristle scales hearing it. Though soulless, so moot.
Sackcloth over eyes, sought sleep. Window-crack lure fainter, but tomorrow's to-do list stubbornly lengthened one more line.